A Lesson in Love
by Christal-R
Summary: If he doesn't improve his grades within a few weeks of the first semester, then he's out of the football team. He is determined to do whatever it takes...even if it means being tutored by the new girl in his class. RandyxMaria.
1. The New School Day

**A Lesson in Love**

**A/N: **Yes another new story again, woo! Lol. It's been on my mind for a while now and so just trying out this idea to see how it goes. This chapter is going to be short but hopefully the next one shall be longer…or should I say it will be longer if you readers like it? Lol. Well I hope you do!

The title may sound cheesy but I guess it fits lol. Happy reading!

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**Chapter 1 – The New School Day**

It was a Monday, the first day of the new school year in September. Kids were popping out of their parents' vehicle, waving to them before leaving. The young crowd was slowly growing as they appeared one after the other. Some had smiles on their faces. Some had frowns.

And the group of boys that were now looking up at the building before them, there was definite frowns on their faces.

"So this is it," said Chris. He was the tallest and the oldest of the trio. "The first day of school."

"Yep," said John. "Summer's over…"

"And it sucks," said Randy.

"Agreed," his best friends said in unison. Then they all sighed.

"You know what this means right?" Chris made a groan. "Tons of homework to do. Tests to study for.…"

"And let's not mention Math class," said Randy with a roll of the eyes. Math was Randy Orton's least favorite subject. Or you could just say that Math was his enemy. He could very well go with the second option.

"Well you just mention it," John joked. Randy gave him a playful punch on the shoulder and laughed too.

Chris made a smirk as he saw a bunch of giggling girls passing by. "And shall I say a new year of beautiful girls?"

"Uh huh!" Randy and John said in unison. The boys looked around and saw girls walking passing by. Maybe today would not be a bad day after all?

"Maybe today wouldn't be so bad you know?" Chris chuckled.

"Look at the bright side," said John. "At least we don't have any classes until tomorrow."

"Hoo-rah for that," said Randy with a roll of the eyes. One question was stuck on his mind. What was the whole point of having school if there was _nothing_ to do in school?

"You know it seemed like yesterday when we all hung out with Randy at the pool and played video games." John loved video games. That was one of his favorite pastimes. If you were to look for him, you could find him in an arcade. He wasn't crazy to save five quarters a week. They were saved for a reason.

"John…that _was_ yesterday," Randy told him.

John grinned. "I know but still time surely flies when you're having fun!"

"Tell me about it!" Chris rolled his eyes. "It makes you wonder where the summer has gone you know?"

"Yeah. Just the other day summer started and now it's done." Randy snapped his fingers to give some effect in his sentence. "Just like that."

"Well at least…we got to see the girls again!" Chris said with an ear to ear grin.

He walked up a little to the wide pathway and held his arms out as if to want to hug the huge building. "Ah Campbell High! How happy I am to see thee."

"Thee?" Randy laughed. "Have you read Shakespeare over the summer vacation or something?"

Chris blew a raspberry and rolled his eyes. "Oh puh-lease! Do you actually believe I would have the time to read a school book let alone a novel?"

Chris Jericho never liked to read. He could tolerate magazines that have anything to do with wrestling, cars and any others that would grab his interest; comics would be included to the list. But a hardcover book? Give it to him and he'd return it to you the next day to say that he enjoyed it when in reality he barely past two pages.

"But of course," John grinned with amusement and pat Chris on the shoulder. "Who would have thought that _you _of all people as a bookworm?"

"Which is exactly my point! I mean books are so…so…_boorrriiinnnnggg_."

Randy was laughing at him when he stopped suddenly. "And speaking of books…why in the world…"

He stopped at his sentence when he saw a girl. But it was no other girl that he would normally see around. He had never seen her before. Could it be possible that she was the new girl in school?

She was hugging three huge books close to her chest as she walked by. Her light brown hair was plaited in two and each long plait was hanging on either side of her shoulder. Her school bag looked like it had a boulder in it. There was one question running through his mind.

"What the heck?" Chris raised his eyebrow. He wondered about the same as well.

John scratched his head slightly and blinked. "Is it just me or is that girl more prepared than any of us?"

"But there are no classes today!" Randy exclaimed with a scoff. His eyes were still on her in disbelief. "She shouldn't have been carrying anything in the first place!"

"Oh well. She'll have to endure carrying the load home," Chris chuckled.

Randy turned to the entrance but she had already disappeared inside. Soon enough, the school bell made its signal.

"Well there goes the bell," said John.

"Yeah. Come on let's see what the new school year awaits us."

Randy made a nod. Curiosity aroused him about that girl he saw. But then he thought of removing that strange image out of his head and just shrugged it off. She wasn't his concern anyway.

As he looked up at the school once more, Randy made a weary sigh. His third year of high school had only just begun.

"Come on guys. Let's get this day over with."

**Next chapter:**** The new student is introduced to the class and Randy realizes that it's the same girl he saw earlier.**


	2. Maria

**A Lesson in Love**

**Thanks to cassymae, Extremexox, chnoelle, I luv John Cena 4 Life, xAttiudex, xOxRAndYOrToNxOx, TorriexJOhn, HARLEY1524 and MariaCenaFan for the reviews. They are greatly appreciated. Hope you'll enjoy this one. Happy reading! **

**Chapter 2 – Maria **

"Good morning class!" the man piped up as he entered the classroom.

"Good morning mister Johnson," the class replied in a bored manner.

Mr. Johnson placed his briefcase down on the table. "Before we go any further into the syllabus of the class, I would like to welcome you all as third years! This year is going to be tough one but once you stick your mind to it, you will get far!"

Randy rolled his eyes as he rested his chin in his hand. _Here goes with his boring speech._

So the teacher went on and on but just like Randy had predicted. He checked his watch every now and then. Ten minutes had past and some of the students have already fallen into deep slumber.

"Are ya still awake?" Chris whispered from behind and chuckled.

He leant back on his chair a little. "Yeah I am…surprisingly."

"Looks like JC is gonna be knocked out any moment now." Chris tried to not burst out into laughter.

Randy peered across at John and chuckled to see him in such a drowsy state.

"Wake up sleepy head," he said.

"I'm up," John insisted, in a groggily manner that was. He would always fall asleep in Mr. Johnson's class.

Randy smirked and nudged him on the shoulder. John responded to this with a soft groan and then, finally giving in to the spell of boredom, he drifted off to sleep, his new notebook as his pillow. Randy and Chris tried to hold in their laughter as they witnessed this funny scene. Perhaps some things never changed in Campbell High.

"Alright then!" Mr. Johnson beamed and took out a stack of papers from his briefcase. "Get your pencils out everyone! It's quiz time!"

The whole class groaned by the announcement that was made.

"But I thought that we don't have any classes until tomorrow!" Randy said disbelievingly.

"Yes that is correct Mr. Orton." Mr. Johnson made a cheeky grin. "But to start off the new school day, I thought that you should get your brains refreshed after that long summer vacation you had."

"Oh lucky us," Chris muttered with a roll of the eyes.

Mr. Johnson held up the papers in the air. "All questions are multiple choice based. There are thirty of them and you are expected to complete them in an forty five minutes. Since you have a two hour session with me, you'll have plenty of time to finish and correct them."

"What? We're correcting them? _In_ class?"

"Yes Mr. Orton," the math teacher confirmed. "But don't fret, they'll all easy as ABC! All based on what we did last year, really."

Easy, so Mr. Johnson said. The class had their doubts.

Randy groaned. _Please let there not be geometry. Anything but that._

"So with that being said, any questions before we start?"

Silence.

"Good," Mr. Johnson smiled. "So we shall….oh, please excuse me for a moment."

Mr. Johnson went to answer the door and then disappeared out of it. Meanwhile the class was groaning in misery of taking a quiz.

"What a start to the day huh?" Chris asked.

"I know," Randy rolled his eyes. Math would be on first period on a Monday morning. He started to hate Mondays now.

"Hey check this out," said Chris with a smirk. "I'm going to give our buddy here…." He made a gesture with his head, pointing to the sleeping John. "a wake up call."

Randy smirked at the idea and nodded. He knew what he was going to do.

Chris stood up from his seat and went up to John's seat. John still had his head flat on the notebook. Chris puffed his chest and placed his hands on his hips. He faked a stern look on his face. There was no doubt that he made a perfect impersonation of the Dean of Discipline Mr. McMahon. Randy bit his lower lip to stop himself from laughing before the plan could be executed. Chris then cleared his throat for full effect in his voice.

"JOHN CENA!"

In just half of a second John looked as if he had just been struck by a lightning bolt. He made a yelp before falling off his chair and crashed onto the floor. The class roared with laughter at the scene.

"So ya awake now, huh John?" Randy asked with a grin as John was looking around for someone or at least he thought that someone was here. But his eyes caught sight of the person standing over him, he rolled his eyes when he realized that it was Chris who started it.

"Gee thanks for the wake up call Jericho," John said through his gritted teeth.

"Anytime bud," Chris laughed and sat back down in his seat. John rubbed his backside that got a bit sore from the fall before taking back his seat once more.

"So is class over?" John asked the boys hopefully when there was no sign of Mr. Johnson around.

"I wish," said Randy. "We have a quiz to do."

"What? On the first day?"

"Same thing we were saying," said Chris. "I think that's his way of keeping us awake."

"Well if that was his plan then it did the trick," said Randy.

"So. . .where is he now?" John asked.

"He stepped out for the moment...and it looks like he's back."

And he was. The raucous noise died down as Mr. Johnson walked in with a smile on his face. His hand was on the doorknob.

"Okay everyone! We have a new student that will be joining us. Please help me make her feel more welcome."

As he heard this, Randy leant his body forward a bit. He smirked. A new girl in school? That should be interesting, he thought.

The teacher made a gesture to signal the person to enter. Randy blinked and his smirk faded away from him. That same small figure. That same hairstyle. The same books she was holding. The same enormous schoolbag she had on her back. She had on glasses as well and at a perfect size for her too.

So all of these characteristics lead up to one thing in his mind.

It was the same girl he saw earlier.

"Hey look it's that girl you saw," John whispered.

Instead of answering him back verbally, Randy simply nodded. His eyes were on that girl. She looked a little shaky and he could tell that she seemed nervous.

"Everyone I would like you to meet Miss Maria Kanellis," Mr. Johnson told. The girl made a small wave to them. "She had just moved here from Chicago and so she will be joining us this year." He smiled at the girl. "I hope that you'll enjoy your school term here with us."

She nodded and made a small smiled to herself.

"Alright Miss Kanellis, you may take this seat next to this boy over there."

Randy sat up properly on his seat as she walked across to occupy the seat that was next to him. She placed her bag on the floor and her books in the steel rack underneath her desk. Randy watched her taking out her pink pencil case and fished out her pencil and eraser. He raised a brow at the scene but then the idea hit him that they were supposed to have a quiz.

Since the new girl came in, he had forgotten about the math quiz for a split second. Mr. Johnson probably had told the new girl about it beforehand otherwise she wouldn't have been taking out the necessary materials.

"Okay so the time now is 9:00 and we shall start at 9:05." Without hesitation, the teacher handed out the papers to each student. When he was done, he stood in front of the class, with a timer in his hand.

"You've got forty five minutes to complete. Thirty multiple choice questions. You may do any rough drafts on your questions sheets if necessary. You're to drop your pencils at 9:50. Any questions? Good. Alright and the time to start will be…now!"

Noises of pencil scribbling on paper were made as the quiz was in progress. Randy let out a groan when he saw that some of questions had geometry. He felt like stabbing the question paper with his pencil for bringing them up.

A few minutes had past and Randy was among the first person to finish the quiz. It wasn't like it was easy as ABC as Mr. Johnson said earlier. To him, it wasn't. He made a brief glance at the new girl. She had her two hands clasped together over her turned down paper, which meant that she was also finished. She didn't look back at him but looking ahead of her. She was simply minding her own business.

"Time's up!" Mr. Johnson sang with a smile. "Drop your pencils down and exchange papers!"

"But sir I didn't finish the ones I left out!" Chris protested.

"That's not my problem Mr. Jericho," the teacher said flatly. "It's your duty to get the quiz done in time."

"Even if the time limit is too short?"

"Chris that's how the quiz is meant to be." Mr. Johnson was picking up the papers as he said this. You can't change the duration to how you see fit. You just have to go along with it."

"Damn," Chris muttered under his breath and the reluctantly, he exchanged his paper with a fellow student Brain Kendrick.

Randy looked across at the girl he had to give his paper to. She looked back and nodded. They exchanged papers between each other in silence.

"Okay!" said Mr. Johnson. "Has everyone exchanged papers? Good. Number one! The answer is D!"

Randy rolled his eyes to himself. He had gotten the answer wrong. He glanced down at the paper in front of him and made a small tick next to the answer.

"Number two is….A!"

Another tick again.

"Number three is D again!"

Another tick once more. And so the class was correcting papers, they groaned and protested (Chris mostly did that). When it was finally over, Randy already had his eyes widen as he looked down at the paper in disbelief. He looked across at the girl. She didn't look back. He blinked and looked at the paper again.

"Whose paper you got?" John asked as he leant his body to Randy to take a peek. "Whoa. Whose paper was it for?"

Randy glanced at the girl. Somehow he was speechless.

"It's hers."

John's eyes soon widen and then jaw dropped to the floor. Randy nodded to confirm the truth. As nosy as Chris was, he peered over Randy's shoulder to see what they were looking at.

"Unbelievable!" Chris said out loud. He looked across at Maria. "That's her paper?!"

"Yes Chris…" Randy trailed off. He couldn't believe it either.

Chris turned his focus to Maria. "That's your paper Maria?"

The new girl seemed to have snapped out of the trance as she looked up at him. "Pardon?"

"The paper," Chris pointed his finger it. "Is it yours?"

"Oh." Maria nodded.

"Seriously?"

"Yes it's my paper."

Chris nodded and opened his mouth again. "Seriously?"

"Mr. Jericho! This is not the time to joke around!" Mr. Johnson snapped.

"I wasn't joking around sir! I was just…"

"You were teasing her weren't you?"

"I wasn't! I swear! It was just that…Maria's paper…."

"What are you going on about?" Mr. Johnson asked in annoyance. "Give it Mr. Orton!"

Randy did as he was told. He looked at the girl once more, still at lost for words.

"Honestly Mr. Jericho I don't see why you're turning this into public news. Seriously I…."

Now his eyes popped out too. Randy could tell for sure that he had just been struck with amazement. He looked from the paper to Maria.

"Miss Kanellis…" A cheeky smile appeared on his face. "Congratulations! You obtained a perfect score! Thirty out of thirty! Excellent!"

The whole class was dumbfounded by this. All eyes were turned to the new girl, even Randy's. He still couldn't believe it. He was the one correcting her paper. And he still couldn't believe it.

Maria smiled faintly at the teacher and then said in a soft tone, "Thank you sir."

Soon the bell made its signal.

"Okay return your papers to your partners. Next class we'll be going straight into the first topic of the syllabus that is algebra! For your homework read pages 78 and 79. Have a pleasant day!"

Randy stood up from his seat and slung his bag over his shoulder. He glanced at her strangely as if she was an alien arriving from Mars or something.

And then to his surprise, Maria looked at him. In the eyes.

"You didn't do very well in it," she said as she handing back his paper. "But don't worry, I'm sure you will do better next time."

"Oh well uh…thanks." He retrieved his paper.

Maria nodded and then went down on her knees to take her books from the rack and placed them on her desk. She made sure her bag was properly supported before taking her books and walked out the classroom. Randy watched her leave.

"Do you think she's human?" Chris questioned.

"I was thinking the exact same thing," John told. Chris and John exchanged looks between each other.

Randy looked at his test paper. Thirteen out of thirty.

"I failed." Randy rolled his eyes. "What a surprise." He never passed a math test in his life. Never.

But then something on his paper caught his attention. Next to his test mark was a brief note in neat handwriting. He looked at it carefully.

_Could have done better. But I believe you will next time._


	3. Do You Like The Pink Panther?

**A/N: I am sorry for updating so late. Let's blame it on writer's block shall we? Lol. **

**Anyway, I would like to thank xAttitudex, TorriexJohn, cassymae, alana2awesome, HARLEY1524, rory21, RaNdAl.xOx., annskieeoffresh, Neon Chocolate, mccena99, KeNiJoe54, chnoelle, TorriexxxJohn 4ever, Maria&Randy, Melissa,** **wAcKiEjAcKiE826****, ****Extreme Hardy Angel**** and ****Randy4ever****. Wow. I am really amazed to get so many reviews. Thanks so much!**

**There's another long chapter for you! :D Hope you enjoy it! Happy reading!**

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**Chapter 3 - Do You Like The Pink Panther?**

It was 11:45 a.m. when a large number of kids began to crowd in a spacious area of the cafeteria for lunch. Randy, Chris and John sat at their usual table to eat.

"There's nothing like a good juicy hamburger," said John as he took a bite.

"Oh wow. Just look at her," Chris suddenly blurted.

"What's it?" Randy asked in confusement. He turned to the see what Chris was looking at. At a far distance was a tall blonde girl waiting for the short girl to get out of the lunch line. Then they walked down together, talking and giggling over something. Randy looked back at Chris whose eyes hadn't been tore off from the blonde girl yet.

"Oh I see," Randy smirked. "It's the one and only Michelle McCool."

"I should have known." John grinned.

Chris still had his eyes on her. His dreamy smile was still stuck on his face. "She made her hair curly today."

"Wow good observation Chris," Randy laughed. Chris had a huge crush on their fellow classmate. Michelle was also a cheerleader of Randy's football team.

Michelle walked past their table and sat at the table opposite theirs. He let out a weary sigh before turning back to his meal.

"Geez Chris just go over there and talk to her already!" John urged. "It's been a year and you haven't told her anything."

"Well I can't."

"Because?"

"Because. . .she's too nice."

"Too nice?" Randy scoffed. "Oh please. That's not an excuse!"

"It could be?"

"Oh really? Tell us one reason why you say that."

"Well she's so…" He looked at the blonde girl, trying to find an excuse quickly She was giggling over something that her friend Mickie James had just told her.

"Giggly," Chris finished.

Randy and John exchanged looks between each other, before turning back to Chris.

"Lame," they told him in unison.

Chris sighed. "Well I already know you guys won't buy it anyway." He rolled his eyes before taking a bite of the hamburger.

"Look just go over there," Randy pointed to the table as he said this. "and talk to her. It's as simple as that."

"Easier said that done," Chris muttered.

"Well once you do that then you'll realize it's not so bad," said Randy.

"You think? So if I do talk to her now…what will I say to her?"

"Well obviously you can't say 'Hey Michelle I like you. See ya later and bon apetit!" John rolled his eyes and the two boys instantly howled with laughter. He laughed as well and then the laughter died down and soon John carried on talking to Chris.

"Anyway…you just go and tell her hi, how she's going…you know ask her a couple questions to keep the conversation going."

"And what if I ran out of things to say?" Chris asked.

"Well talk about anything that comes to mind," said Randy. "Like the start of the football season that's coming up soon. You could ask her for her thoughts on it."

Chris's eyes suddenly lit up with glee. "That's great idea! I'll ask her that for sure! And maybe I could ask her how her summer vacation was!"

"Even better!" said John with a grin. "Just remember to keep the conversation going by asking questions. Once you do that, you can't go wrong."

Chris nodded. "Okay. I think I'll go over and talk to her now."

"Alright," Randy grinned and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Good luck!"

"We'll be rootin' for ya!" said John.

"Thanks guys," said Chris with a grin. Then he made a wince over something. "Wipe your mouth JC. You look like a vampire that just sucked up blood."

"Oh thanks for that," John chuckled as he wiped off the ketchup around his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Okay I'm going right. . .now." He announced…and he was still sitting at the table.

"Chris you're still here." Randy spoke as he rolled his eyes.

"Shush I'm waiting for the moment," Chris replied.

"What moment? Get your butt off the bench right now and go talk to her!"

"Okay! Okay! Fine…" Chris made a groan, out of nervousness. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a tiny container of Tic Tac. He would always have them with him. He shoved a few green mints in his mouth. "It's always to carry these around. You never know when we need them."

"Good thinking," Randy said with a smirk.

"So are you going now for real this time?" John asked, taking a sip of his fruit punch.

"Yes," Chris was sounding confident now. "I'm going!" He grinned at them before standing up to his feet. "So do I look okay? Does my hair need brushing?"

"Well it's a little messy at the front," said Randy, checking his hair.

"Okay." He dug into his pocket again and pulled out a pocket mirror. He looked into it while using his other hand to brush his hair back a bit.

"Wow you really are prepared," John said with a laugh.

Chris grinned. "You can never be too prepared for anything. I'll see you guys in a bit."

"Go get her," said Randy with a smirk.

Chris made a smirk and a nod before he departed the table. As he turned to glance back at his friends, Randy and John made thumbs up as a sign of approval. Chris smiled and went ahead. Soon enough he arrived at the girls table and it seemed that when he got there, Chris had no problem getting into a conversation with them, especially with Michelle.

"Finally," Randy said in a relieved tone. "After all the wailing and lame excuses…"

"I know right?" said John with a grin of amusement. "I think he'll be alright now."

"Yep," Randy said with a smirk. Then he looked around the cafeteria in search of someone. She wasn't in the lunch line and she doesn't appear to be sitting at a table either.

"What's up?" John asked.

Randy turned back to him. "I was just wondering where that girl is."

"Oh." John looked around but he didn't see her either. He shrugged. "She's probably around here somewhere in the crowd."

Randy made a nod and took a bit of his cheeseburger. While he chewed, he thought of that she wrote on his paper earlier this morning. What could she mean when she wrote that she believed that he could do better in math? How could she know that?

Randy figured that she was just saying that so that he wouldn't feel bad about it. That could be the reason right?

John made a chuckle as if to recollect a funny memory. "You know she shocked the whole class when we took that math quiz. I mean no one had never ever gotten a perfect score in a math quiz in Mr. J's class."

"I know. . .it's. . .weird. I mean who could anyone survive through that?"

John laughed. "Yeah I know what you mean. But you know we haven't seen her again since this morning. Probably she signed up for other classes that we're not doing."

"Yeah I guess as much." Randy shrugged.

About ten minutes later, Chris returned to the table with an ear to ear grin on his face as if he had just won a grand lottery or something.

"I presume you guys had a good conversation?" Randy asked with a smirk.

"You have been away for quite a while," John smirked. "Come on now, give us the details!"

Chris grinned as he took his seat. "Well guys…it turns out that it wasn't so bad. You were right Randy. She's really cool and so easy going.

"See? I told you so." Randy held a proud smirk on his face.

"And guess what else? I'm going to sit next to her!"

"Oh really?" Randy raised his brow in curiosity.

"So that means you're taking your half eaten burger with you?" John raised his brow in confusement.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Of course not! I don't mean sit with her now! I meant that I'm going to next to her when we have Bio which is right after lunch!"

"Ohh well now that makes things a bit clearer now!" They cackled with laughed.

"Way to go Chris!" said Randy. He gave him a nudge on the shoulder. "This could be the start of something."

Chris held an 'I am so made of awesome' expression on his face. He poked a straw into his apple carton. "We'll see. We'll see. So what did I miss while I was gone?" He asked as he took a sip.

"Not much," said John. "We were just talking about the new girl in our class."

"Have you noticed that she's not around?" Randy asked.

"That's because she's not _in_ the school. Well in this building anyway."

"How do you know?" Randy questioned him.

"Well Michelle just mentioned her while we were talking. She and Mickie found her sitting under the tree outside. They have asked her to join them but she rejected the invitation. Apparently she wanted to eat alone and read Twilight."

"Twilight?" John paused for though. "Twilight…isn't it about some vampire and a girl?" John questioned.

"How should I know?" Chris made a snout. "You're asking the wrong guy buddy."

"Maybe you should go ask her," said Randy, taking a sip of his soda.

"Who? _Her_? Are you serious?"

Randy shrugged. "Well you seemed curious about it."

"No way! I'm not going to ask her."

"Are you afraid of?" Chris asked. "Her four eyes staring right at you?"

"I…no Chris I'm not!"

"You hesitated!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Yes you did!" Chris turned to look at Randy, hoping to gain some support. "Hey Randy you noticed how he paused for a few seconds didn't you?"

"I was preparing myself to answer!" John insisted. "You know, think before you speak? I don't speak before I think, unless _some_ people.

"And what are you implying?"

Randy rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself and continued to eat quietly while he listened to his best friends bickering for the next few minutes.

Then he paused into thought of her. At least he knew where she was. Definitely not in the cafeteria, that was for sure.

**X x x x X**

Loud chatter came from the kids as they marched out the big doors. School was finally over for the day.

"You guys wanna check out the arcade?" John asked as they walked down the stone steps. "I heard that they have the least video games."

"Alright!" Chris punched his fist in the air. "Let's go."

"Oh crap!"

The two boys stopped in their tracks and turned to source of the third voice.

"What is it? Forgot something?" John asked.

"Yeah my drawing book." Randy rolled his eyes. "Wait here."

He rushed back inside. He passed through a crowd of kids until he found the classroom where he had his last period of the day. He searched his desk.

Randy groaned. "Please don't tell me I lost it."

Then he scanned the entire classroom just in case. No luck.

"Oh just great!" He sighed. Then he heard a voice from behind.

"H-hello?"

He turned to look at the new entrant. It was the new girl again.

"Oh hi," said Randy, not knowing what to say to her another than a greeting.

"What are you doing back here?"

_I should be asking you the same question. _"Oh I came to look for something I left behind." Randy replied out loud.

Maria nodded. "Is it a drawing book?"

He paused. "I beg your pardon?"

She revealed a blue exercise book to him with stickers stuck all over it. "I found this on the floor. I was going to bring it to the staff's office…but then I saw you coming back here so I thought I should ask you…"

"Oh I see." Randy nodded, understanding her reason. "But yes. It's mine."

Maria nodded. Silence overtook them. Randy slowly walked toward her. He was trying not to agitate with her delicacy. He retrieved his personal item and turned its pages.

"Good. I haven't lost it."

She shook her head. "You're a really good artist by the way."

His cheeks began to tingle. "Umm…well I only draw when I'm bored."

She nodded. "I liked your Pink Panther drawing. That's the only one I looked at."

"Really? You do?"

Maria nodded.

Randy opened it. There was a sketch of the Pink Panther staring back at its artist. It definitely looked exactly how Pink Panther should look. It took Randy three hours to get it right since he got it from a sticker he had. It was his first and favorite drawing. He felt proud of his artwork.

"Do you like the Pink Panther?" She sounded amazed, not only by the drawing, but by the realization that probably there was someone else who actually knew that this cartoon actually existed.

"Umm…it's not my kind of show." That was a lie. "I only drew it because…well I got bored, you know?"

She nodded again. She seemed to believe in it though.

"Well I loved Pink Panther," she said. "It was my favorite show when I was little. I would always sing to the theme song all the time when the show starts."

…_Me too._

This was hard for him to believe.

They actually had something in _common_.

If he told her, then she would notice this too. Then she would probably look at him oddly after discovering this. The last thing he wanted was those four eyes staring back at him.

"…Okay," he finally spoke at last. That was all he could think of to say. Just a plain one worded answer.

Okay.

Then an awkward silence came in once again. Randy knew that the boys were probably wondering what took him so long. But if he was going to leave now without saying anything, she would think of him as rude.

Well if his brain hadn't froze on him at the worse possible timing, wouldn't have been in this situation. Like right now.

"Well anyway I should go now." Fortunately for him, Maria was the first to break the ice. "I promised my parents I would babysit my sister this afternoon."

"Oh okay," said Randy with a nod.

Maria nodded in return. "Well…I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye."

As she was almost close to the door, Randy had a sudden urge to say something else. Something he _should _have said when he had gotten back his treasured item.

"Wait!"

Her eyes found him again. "Yes?"

"I just want to say….thanks. For returning my drawing book."

Maria made a small smile to him. Never did he expected her to do that.

"De nada señor." And with that being said, she was gone.

**X x x x X**

"Oh there you are. We thought you probably want to have a sleepover here or something." Chris grinned.

Randy laughed. "No. I got a bit sidetracked that's all. I found my drawing book though. "

"Cool." John caught a glance of something that eventually caught his attention. "Hey look, it's that girl."

He knew who John was referring to and looked to his direction. The same small frame. The same hair colour. The same huge bagpack she had on her back. She was heading toward a silver mini van. She threw her bag into the van before she hopped right in and slid the door afterwards.

"Hello. Anybody home?"

John waved a hand over Randy's face to grab his attention. That did the trick.

"Huh?" Randy asked. He was finally snapped out of trance.

"You think she's an alien too right?" Chris patted him on the shoulder with feeling. "Don't worry, you're not alone."

Randy rolled his eyes. "Can we please just get out of here? I don't want to stay here any longer after having a bad day on the first day of school."

"Well what are we waiting for then?" John laughed. "Let's go!"

Off they went to the arcade together.

As far as the new girl was concerned, his thoughts of Maria had been forgotten.

For now.

**Next chapter: Randy gets a call from the principal's office.**


	4. Meeting With The Principal

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter three.**

**I'm not so happy with this chapter but I hope you like it anyway.**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Meeting With The Principal**

--

_**Posted by Hunter H. Hemsley,  
**__**Captain of The Red Warriors**_

_The football season is near!_

_So callin' all Red Warriors! We need to come together as one!_

_The first official meeting will take place at the following date:_

_Date: Friday 10__th__ October_

_Time: 3:00 pm_

_Venue: The basketball court_

_Anyone who is interested in joining the team, please attend the meeting. There will be discussions in regards of the tryouts._

_Hope to see everyone there! _

_The Red Warriors count on you to bring the championship this year!_

--

There was one thing that he would always look forward to after school and that was to play football. He wouldn't care if he ended up dirtying his uniform despite his mother's constant complaints about the matter in terms of washing.

Rain or sunshine, he would surely be there in the football field.

The first official meeting would be starting in two days from today and he was very eager for that day to make its arrival. In fact he couldn't wait to start training.

His lips curled upward upon seeing the poster that was stuck on the bulletin. He was confident that his team could capture the gold this year. The Red Warriors would surely win the trophy for the third time.

He could hardly wait.

--

A visit to a principal's office would be a nightmare to almost everyone at Campbell High.

And that nightmare was soon to be realized to a student on that fateful day.

It was a Wednesday afternoon when Randy was his double period of Biology. The principal's voice broke from the speaker.

"_May I have your attention please? Mr. Randy Orton, please come to the principal's office right after school. _

Randy felt a sudden jolt in his stomach the minute his name was called. He didn't just hear his name being announced, right?

"_I repeat, Mr. Randy Orton, please come to the principal's office, immediately right after school. Thank you."_

Unfortunately his ears heard it right.

The whole class turned back toward the person that whose name was called.

"Oooh you're in for it now," John teased.

Randy, shot a glare across to John at his right. "Shut up."

"What have you done?" Chris whispered with a chuckle.

"I didn't do anything!" Randy hissed.

"So then what is it about?"

That was when Randy wanted to know. Why on earth would the principal wanted to see him for?

The bell eventually rang to signal the end of the last period of the day.

"You want us to wait for you outside?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," Randy said as picked up his bag from the floor. "Hopefully the meeting or whatever it is…shouldn't be that long."

"Well…" John trailed off and then changed his voice into a British accent, "Enjoy your teee party."

The two boys laughed. Randy simply rolled his eyes.

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear that," he said.

"Oh Mr. Jericho would you like some sugar in your tee?" John said, emphasizing on the word tea.

"Oh yes please Mr. Regal," Chris replied in the same accent. He pretended to take some sugar from the invisible sugar and then took a sip from the invisible cup. Suddenly he began to cough, in a fake way of course.

"Oh bloody hell. This stuff takes like pee."

They howled with laughed. Randy just glared at them in annoyance.

Chris wiped away the tears from his eyes and patted Randy on the shoulder. "Oh man I would love to be in your position."

"Will you guys cut it out?! Randy spat. "I'm really upset about this!"

"Sorry," John said, chuckling. "We were just trying to lighten you up."

"Guess thanks for that," Randy said with sarcasm and rolled his eyes as they walked out of the science lab together.

"We'll meet you outside," Chris said. Randy nodded and went onto his journey to the principal's office. He weaved in and out through the crowd at the hallways and then eventually rounded a corner and soon came upon the place that anyone would dread to pass by.

The principal's office.

--

Randy went up to the secretary's desk. "Hi. Um, I'm here to see Mr. Regal."

The secretary nodded. "Give me your name please."

"Randy Orton," he stated.

The secretary pressed a button and picked up the receiver. Randy waited a while for the secretary to give him a sign.

"You may enter."

This was it.

Randy got to the door and placed his hand onto the doorknob. He let out a breath before he entered.

He found a man sitting beside his desk. His name was William Regal. He was in his late thirties with short light brown hair and wearing a pair of spectacles.

He had taken his first sip of hot cup of tea just as a student entered.

"Ah Mr. Orton," the principal began in his famous British accent that everyone knew of. "Good you're here. Have a seat."

Randy did as he was told. He placed his bag on the floor and sat on the face that was facing the principal.

Principal Regal put down his cup and saucer. "Now before we get started, would you like some tea?"

There was one thing about Mr. Regal. Tea had to be offered prior to the meeting.

Randy grimaced. "No thank you."

"Or how about a biscuit then?" A scone perhaps? Miss Hercules delivered a lovely batch for me from the cafeteria. They're lovely to have with jam, strawberry especially.

The teenage boy shook his head. "No thank you…sir."

"Okay." Principal Regal pushed the big tin aside and cleared. "Alright, on with business. You must be wondering why you're here."

Randy nodded.

"Tell me something. How are you doing with your studies so far?"

Randy shrugged. "Okay I guess."

"You guess? You don't sound confident."

"Well there's a lot of work to do. Especially with Math."

"Ah yes Math. Your weakest subject area, yes?"

"I suppose," said Randy. He shrugged. He knew that was the truth.

"From what I've seen from report, you keep getting low grades on that subject. This cannot continue this way or your grade average will drop. You know that."

"Yeah well…I just have to work harder," said Randy.

The principal could sense the tone of boredom in his voice. He continued.

"You've got to do better than just work harder Mr. Orton," the principal pointed out. "So your teacher and I had a discussion earlier today at lunch time…and he made a suggestion, in which I agreed to."

That was when Randy raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "He's not giving me extra classes right?"

"No. You'll be getting a tutor."

Randy thought he was just about to fall off his chair at the new information he had just received.

Did he just say tutor? He was going to get him a _tutor_?

"What?"

"You heard me loud and clear Mr. Orton."

"But sir…"

"It's for your own benefit," Principal Regal insisted.

"But sir I don't _need_ one. I just need to do all my assignments, pay attention in class and..."

"You're not getting out of this Randy. You need help whether you want to admit it or not. I'm giving you the first semester to do better. If I'm not getting a good report then consider yourself banned from playing football."

Randy's eyes widen with horror. "You can't do that!"

"Listen to me boy," the principal began in a serious tone, pointing a finger as to scold him. "Do not talk back to me in that manner!"

"But this is our chance for us to win the championship this year!" Randy said in defense. "I can't leave. The team is counting on me! Hunter is too!"

"As much as I would like our school to take in the gold this year, your academics are far more important."

"But…"

"No buts Mr. Orton. You're getting a tutor. This decision is final."

Randy groaned. He hated this.

"Do I make myself clear, Mr. Orton?" the principal asked.

"But sir…"

"I _said _do I make myself clear?" Principal Regal repeated in a serious tone.

The teenage boy had no choice but to obey.

"Yes sir."

"Good."

Then the telephone rang. The principal turned on the speaker. "Yes Ms. James."

_Mr. Regal there's a student out here to see you._

"Excellent. Alright let the student wait in the lounge. I'll be ready in a few minutes."

_Yes sir._

The principal turned back to the student who was definitely not happy with the decision that was made.

"Do you have any questions regarding the matter?"

"Yeah, just one. Exactly when am I going to meet this tutor?"

"Well hopefully by next week. I'm meeting with the student this afternoon to discuss on the times and so forth. So once we got everything sorted out then your tutoring session shall start next week."

Randy nodded. "Okay."

"And before you leave, pass by Miss James' desk. There's a letter for you to take home."

Randy nodded again. "Okay."

"So is there any else you want to say before I call another student in?"

"No sir."

The principal nodded. "Alright then. Off you go."

Randy picked up his bag and was going for the door when he got called back to the desk.

"Oh and by the way, I've already called your parents earlier today so they're expecting to see that letter."

Principal Regal picked up his cup and took another sip. Randy just stood there and watched him with horror.

"Mmm. There's nothing like a good cup of tea to relieve stress on a hard working day." He turned to Randy with a calming smile. "Have a pleasant afternoon."

_--_

Randy closed the door behind him with a scowl on his face. He didn't like the idea one bit. He had to take sessions with the tutor or he would be out of the football team for the rest of the season.

That was so unfair, he thought.

"I believe that this is for you," a voice brought him out of his thoughts. It was Miss James with a neatly folded paper in her hand.

"Oh right. Thank you," Randy said, retrieving the letter.

"You're welcome," said Miss James with a smile. She turned her attention to the other student behind him. "You may go now."

"Okay. Thank you."

Randy froze instantly at the soft tone of voice. He could recognize it very well. He turned around and his answer was proven to be correct.

Maria looked back at him as she stood up from the couch. She was here. That meant she was going to meet with the principal too.

Ever since she gave him back his drawing book he had forgotten in a classroom, they had not met eye to eye.

So there was definitely some awkwardness between them.

"…Hi," Maria started.

"Hi," Randy echoed.

They looked at each other in silence for a brief five seconds.

"…Bye."

"Bye."

There was nothing else to be said. Just a short and simple one worded greetings was good enough for the both of them.

The eye contact was soon broken as Maria disappeared behind the door. Randy left the office and met the hallways once more. His mind was already filled with worries about the predicament that he was put into.

He would have to attend the tutoring sessions with whoever it was assigned with.

Or he would have to kiss the championship trophy goodbye.

"Great," Randy muttered with a sigh. "Just great."


End file.
